IN STILE MODERNO
In Stile Moderno is an ensemble for early music, founded in Basel, Switzerland in 2012 by soprano Agnes Coakley and lutenist/cornettist Nathaniel Cox. Named after the "modern style" of music which emerged in Italy around 1600, the ensemble is dedicated to music of the seventeenth century, and combines fidelity to historical performance practice with a drive to make early music accessible and relevant to modern audiences. Both as a lute and voice duo and in larger formations with cornetto, organ, voice, and plucked instruments, In Stile Moderno has charmed audiences with their engaging performances of seventeenth-century music in Boston, Vermont, and New York, as well as in concert series in Switzerland, Germany, and France.
2019–2020 Season Artists
Praised for her “enchanting, glowing timbre and perfect intonation, with a good helping of theatrical spirit” (Weiler Zeitung), British-American soprano Agnes Coakley Cox is a specialist in the performance of early Baroque music and co-director of In Stile Moderno. Based in Boston, Agnes is a member of the Choir of the Church of the Advent and appears with ensembles including The Thirteen, Seven Times Salt, Les Canards Chantants, Long & Away, Les Enfants d'Orphée, and the Schola Cantorum of Boston. She made her opera debut as Cupid in Amherst Early Music Festival's King Arthur in July 2017, directed by Drew Minter.
Her desire to bring early music to life has led Agnes to become an expert in the historical performance practice of singing, and she actively applies historical gesture, pronunciation, and ornamentation to her performances. Her singing is characterized by a genuinely expressive style, a deep level of engagement with the text, and a passion for connecting with the audience.
After graduating summa cum laude in Music at Yale, Agnes studied voice, historical performance practice, and pedagogy at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland, where her teacher and mentor was Evelyn Tubb. An enthusiastic pedagogue, Agnes teaches voice privately and at Wellesley High School, and enjoys baking, knitting, and riding her folding bike around town. www.agnescoakley.com
Cornettist and lutenist Nathaniel Cox enjoys a varied career as a multi-instrumental early music specialist. After earning Bachelor's degrees in trumpet performance and Russian literature from Oberlin College and Conservatory, Nathaniel was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study cornetto with Bruce Dickey at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland. While in Basel, he also taught himself to play theorbo, and was quickly in high demand as a continuo player. In 2012 he founded, with soprano Agnes Coakley, the ensemble In Stile Moderno, a group dedicated to performing rarely-heard works from the 17th century. Since moving back to the United States in 2014 he has performed with some of North America’s leading early music ensembles, including Apollo’s Fire, The Toronto Consort, Ensemble Caprice, Bach Collegium San Diego, and the Dark Horse Consort. He is now based in Boston where he appears regularly with such groups as Les Enfants d’Orphée, The Boston Camerata, Ensemble Origo, Sarasa Chamber Ensemble, and Seven Times Salt among many others. His most recent solo recital was performed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of their exhibit “Valentin de Boulogne: Beyond Caravaggio”. Nathaniel teaches cornetto privately and at the Amherst Early Music Festival.
Mezzo-soprano Sophie Michaux was born in London and raised in the French Alps. Now based in Boston, she is recognized as a particularly versatile singer, performing as a soloist in a wide variety of genres from Opera to French Cabaret songs. She was noted as a “warm and colorful mezzo” (Opera News) and as “a study in color…Michaux’s expressive quality and variety is remarkable ” (Arts Impulse). She made her Boston Symphony Orchestra solo debut in 2019, in Suor Angelica, under the direction of Andris Nelsons. On stage, her roles include the role of Ceres in Boston Early Music Festival’s production of Lalande’s Les Fontaines de Versailles, the title roles in Rinaldo (Boston Opera Collaborative), for which she was nominated Best Female Performer in an Opera for the 2015 Arts Impulse Theatre Awards, Angelina in La Cenerentola (NEMPAC), Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia (Opera Brittenica). Her performance of 21st century roles includes those of Anne in To Hell and Back by Jake Heggie (BOC), Mrs. Soames in Our Town by Ned Rorem (BOC), Higuchi in Troubled Water by Mischa Saldkind-Pearl (Guerilla Opera), Ceres in The Tempest by Joseph Summer (The Shakespeare Concerts).
Mrs. Michaux is simultaneously active in Oratorio, Ensemble and Chamber music and has collaborated with Blue Heron, A Far Cry, Palaver Strings, and is a core member of the Lorelei Ensemble, Boston’s critically-acclaimed women’s vocal ensemble. In March 2020, she will be performing a solo recital at the Fundazione Giorgio Cini in Venice, Italy. Sophie belongs to Beyond Artists, a coalition of artists that donates a percentage of their concert fees to organizations they care about. Through her performances, she supports The Ocean Clean Up, 350.org (Climate Change), and Give Directly, an organization that sends money directly to people living in extreme poverty. In the spare time, she likes to play the accordion, hiking, cooking, and enjoys spending time in cafés around the Cambridge and Somerville area!
Corey Dalton Hart, tenor, is an active performer of opera, oratorio, and song repertoire as well as an eager chamber musician. With a passion for American song, he is a regular recitalist along the east coast, having premiered new works in both New York City and Boston. Corey’s opera credits include works by Mozart, Bizet, Ravel, and Knussen. On the concert stage, he has been a featured soloist with the American Symphony Orchestra, the Albany Symphony, the Bard Baroque Ensemble, and The Orchestra Now. As a chamber musician, Corey performs with the Boston Baroque Ensemble, Renaissance Men, The Ashmont Bach Project, and the renowned choir at the Church of the Advent. He was also recently named an American Scholar of VOCES8, one of the world’s most versatile vocal ensembles.
Corey holds degrees from Furman University and the Bard College Conservatory of Music and is currently working on his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in vocal performance and pedagogy from the New England Conservatory of Music. When Corey is not singing, you might find him in search of the best Indian food in town, dominating (or not) a local trivia game, or making informal music with his not-twin but look-alike brother.
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Adam Jacob Simon is a composer and singer active in the Boston area. He has enjoyed many recent performances and commissions from nationally acclaimed ensembles including A Far Cry, Lorelei Ensemble, Conspirare, Seraphic Fire, Palaver Strings, WordSong Boston, and the Oriana Consort. As a vocal soloist he has recently performed the tenor solos in Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the Onion River Chorus in Montpelier VT, and the tenor Evangelist in Arvo Pärt’s “Passio” and baritone in Duruflé’s Requiem with the Trinity Church Choirs in Boston, where he serves as a staff singer. His voice is described as having a “wonderful romantic lyricism” and “reassuring warmth” - Times Argus (VT). He is an avid folk music singer as well, performing frequently with the world folk ensemble Culomba, and VT based vocal ensemble Northern Harmony, traveling throughout Europe, South Africa and the U.S. Adam is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Composition at Tufts University in Medford MA, studying with Boston composer John McDonald. He completed his undergraduate studies in composition and piano at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge MA, studying composition with Howard Frazin, and music theory with Judy Ross. Reach Adam at AdamJacobSimon.com.
John McKean is a harpsichordist and musicologist based in Boston, where he serves as the Chair of the Historical Performance Department at the Longy School of Music of Bard College. Critically acclaimed for his “intelligent” and “precise” playing (The Washington Post) as well as his “sonorous brilliance and thrilling, dance-like energy” (Allgäuer Zeitung), John has performed extensively throughout Europe and North America as both a soloist and a continuo player with numerous noted ensembles and orchestras. John holds degrees in German Studies and Harpsichord Performance from Oberlin College/Conservatory and an advanced performance diploma from the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg (Germany). He also holds an M.Phil. and a Ph.D. in historical musicology from the University of Cambridge (U.K). For several years he served as an assistant editor of the Oxford University Press journal Early Music. Beyond his musicological work and performing career, John also maintains an active interest in instrument building (he regularly performs on a 17th-century style Flemish harpsichord of his own making), music publishing, typography, and exploring the remote corners of his home state of Maine.
For more information, visit: www.johnmckean.info
Parker Ramsay’s career is distinguished by its breadth and crossing of instrumental boundaries and genres at the harp, organ and harpsichord. At age seventeen, Parker was awarded the organ scholarship at King’s College, Cambridge where he served under the direction of Stephen Cleobury. His tenure with the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge included performing for the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in 2012, as well as six international tours and four recordings. In 2014, he was awarded First Prize at the Amsterdam International Organ Competition. Parker has performed at the Concertgebouw in (Amsterdam), the Royal Albert Hall (London), the Musée d’Orsay (Paris), the National Center for the Performing Arts in (Beijing), Sejong Center for the Performing Arts (Seoul), Verizon Hall in (Philadelphia), Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall (New York City).
As a harpist, Parker specializes in repertoire for early harps and new music for the modern pedal harp. In March 2018, he led the University of Louisville Harp Project, premiering nine works written for solo harp. In 2019, he will record his own transcription of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations for the pedal harp at the Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge. As an avid continuo player, he has worked with the Academy of Ancient Music, the Academy of Sacred Drama, and the Shanghai Camerata. In 2020, he will commence the Kithara series in New York, in which he will premiere six new chamber works for harp and other instruments during the 2020-21 season. Parker has worked closely with composers such as Marc Satterwhite, David Fulmer, Tom Morrison and Saad Haddad.
In addition to his work as a performer, he works as a staff writer for VAN Magazine (Berlin) and maintains his blog, Harping On: Thoughts from a Recovering Organist. He holds degrees from Cambridge, Oberlin Conservatory and the Juilliard School.
Daniel Swenberg plays a wide variety of lutes and guitars: baroque, renaissance, classical/romantic--small, medium, and large. While based in New York, Daniel schleps instruments throughout North America and Europe to play with a wide range of ensembles: ARTEK, REBEL, The Metropolitan Opera, the Carmel Bach Festival, Mr. Jones & the Engines of Destruction, Ensemble Viscera, Opera Atelier/Tafelmusik, The New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Catacoustic Ensemble, Handel & Hayden, The Green Mountain Project, Tenet, Skid Rococo, the Newberry Consort, with soprano Nell Snaidas, Lizzy & the Theorboys, Music of the Baroque, the Aspen Music festival opera, Staatstheatre Stuttgart, and the Orchestra of St Lukes. He has accompanied Renee Fleming and Kathleen Battle at Carnegie Hall. He is on faculty at The Juilliard School's Historical Performance program and at the University of Northern Texas (Denton). Daniel received awards from the Belgian American Educational Foundation (2000) for a study of 18th century chamber music for the lute, and a Fulbright Scholarship (1997) to study in Bremen, Germany at the Hochschule für Künste (studying with Stephen Stubbs and Andrew Lawrence King). He studied previously with Pat O’Brien at Mannes College of Music, receiving a Masters degree in Historical Performance (Lute). Prior to this life's incarnation as a lutenist, he studied classical guitar at the North Carolina School of the Arts, and musicology at Washington University (St. Louis). His programing integrates and emphasizes music with the history, sciences, economics, politics, and broader culture of its time.
Past Seasons
Karina Schmitz is principal violist of Handel and Haydn Society in Boston and Apollo's Fire in Cleveland, associate principal violist of the Carmel Bach Festival Orchestra, founding member of 17th-century ensemble ACRONYM, and violinist/violist of Duo Corbetta. For eleven years she served as principal second violinist with Philadelphia based Tempesta di Mare. Currently living in Boston, Karina holds degrees from New England Conservatory and the Cleveland Institute of Music. Her early music studies began at Oberlin Conservatory with Marilyn McDonald, Miho Hashizume and David Breitman. She continued her training in the Apollo’s Fire Apprentice Program in Cleveland while serving as concertmaster of the Case Western Reserve University Baroque Orchestra. Karina has performed with the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, Boston Baroque, Boston Camerata, Blue Heron, Arcadia Players, A Far Cry, Les Delices, Chatham Baroque, Three Notch'd Road, Oregon Bach Festival, the American Opera Theater in Washington, D.C., the Trinity Consort in Portland, Oregon, the Rutland Baroque Orchestra in Vermont, and the Dryden Ensemble.
Simon Martyn-Ellis began playing the lute after finding the classical guitar repertoire too restrictive for ensemble performance: continuo accompaniment remains a mainstay of his activities. After undergraduate studies in his homeland Australia, Simon moved to Germany in 2002 to complete postgraduate study with Rolf Lislevand at the Trossingen Hochschule für Musik. During his 11 year stay in Germany, Simon appeared frequently throughout Europe and the US in leading performance venues and theaters with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Concerto Köln, Salzburger Landestheater, Neue Düsseldorfer Hofkapelle, Neue Hofkapelle München, and the Freiburger Barockorchester, as well as in a variety of chamber music performances. He continues to return to Germany to perform and record.
Based in Boston, Simon has appeared since his arrival in the US in 2013 as a founding member with ACRONYM and Duo Corbetta, as soloist with Apollo’s Fire and Clarion NYC, and at the Oregon Bach Festival, Handel & Haydn Society, the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, with Les Delices, Helicon NYC, Bach Collegium San Diego, Three Notch'd Road, amongst other chamber performances around the US.
Simon can be heard and seen on CD recordings and DVD releases from the Harmonia Mundi, Deutsche Grammophon, Virgin Classics, BIS, ABC Classics, Vexations840 and Move labels amongst others. He has been recorded for radio and television broadcast countless times in over 12 countries worldwide. www.simonmartyn-ellis.com
A versatile multi-instrumentalist, Dan Meyers has developed a reputation as a flexible and engaging performer of both classical and folk music; his credits range from premieres of avant-garde chamber music, to headlining a concert series in honor of Pete Seeger at the Newport Folk Festival, to playing Renaissance instruments on Broadway as part of the “band” for the Globe Shakespeare Company. He is a founding member of the Boston-based early music/folk crossover group Seven Times Salt, and also performs throughout New England with the 7 Hills Renaissance Wind Band and the Medieval music ensemble Meravelha. In recent seasons he has appeared with the The Folger Consort (Washington DC), The Newberry Consort (Chicago), The Boston Shawm and Sackbut Ensemble, Early Music New York, La Follia Baroque (Austin), the viol consort Long and Away, El Fuego, and the Cambridge Revels. He is the director of early wind studies for the Five Colleges Early Music Program, and has taught recorder and Renaissance winds for the Early Music Week at Pinewoods and at Tufts University. He also performs southern Italian folk music with the award-winning band Newpoli, and traditional Irish music with the bands Ulster Landing and Ishna. He holds B.A. degrees in Music and English Literature from Whitman College, and an M.M. in Historical Performance from the Longy School of Music. www.danmeyersmusic.com
Fabio Pirozzolo is an Italian drummer, multi-percussionist and singer currently based in Boston, Massachusetts. Originally from Terracina, Italy, he started his career as a folk percussionist, playing Italian frame drums tamburello and tammorra, in one of the most famous folk groups in his area. This experience gave him the opportunity to travel throughout Europe, playing concerts and giving lectures on regional Italian frame drum techniques. A summa cum laude graduate of Berklee College of Music, he performs in virtually any genre of music from jazz to world music to rock. He’s the co-founder of the world music ensemble Grand Fatilla and Italian folk music ensemble Newpoli where he plays percussion and sings. Highly in demand both as a drummer and as percussionist, he’s currently the drummer for The Guruganesha Band, Vanessa Trien and The Jumping Monkeys and the Union United Methodist Church Band and the percussionist for Revma Greek Ensemble, Musaner and Arev Armenian Folk ensemble. In 2012, Fabio was accepted at Tufts University and in 2014 he completed his master's degree in ethnomusicology with a thesis titled "Central and Southern Italian Tambourines: Between Tradition and Innovation", the first-ever scholarly work in the English language entirely focused on tamburello and tammorra. In 2015, Fabio earned the highly competitive Iguana Music Fund award. The fund will help with the production of a series of instructional videos that will eventually culminate in a commercially available DVD entirely dedicated to the art of playing central and southern Italian tambourines.